Iso-Butyraldehyde derivatives are useful solvents and co-monomers in high performance polyesters; however, increasing demands for these materials have created unprecedented challenges for global iso-butyraldehyde production. Hydroformylation, the addition of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), mixtures of which are known as syngas, to an unsaturated bond is used to produce iso-butyraldehyde from propylene. This process provides a mixture of the linear product, normal-butyraldehyde (N), and the branched, iso-butyraldehyde product (I), with the ratio of normal- to iso-(N:I) typically being greater than or equal to two. The majority of hydroformylation research, particularly within industry, has focused on optimizing the normal aldehyde selectivity while interest in selectively forming the branched aldehyde has only recently emerged. Although an industrially viable process for iso-selective chemistry has yet to be developed, recent academic results have demonstrated highly branched hydroformylation of unsubstituted linear alpha olefins. Selectively hydroformylating at the C2 carbon position of these olefin substrates is quite challenging given that unsubstituted linear alpha olefins bear no discerning electronic or steric features.
To be considered industrially relevant, the turnover frequency of a hydroformylation catalyst system must be at least 1,000 h−1. In addition, to avoid costly separation of linear and branched aldehydes from the product stream it would be preferable to generate branched aldehydes in high concentration (>50%). Identifying reaction conditions conducive to achieving N:I ratios below 1.0 from hydroformylation of unsubstituted linear alpha-olefins while obtaining a reaction rate of 1,000 h−1 or higher would therefore be desirable.